Lisa Whybourn has called time on her professional playing career as injuries and the cost of staying in the sport have become too much for her to justify continuing on the women’s tour.

The Hemingford Grey-based tennis player has spent much of the last four years overcoming injury setbacks, undergoing two surgeries on her shoulder. She had surgery on her hip less than two months ago and has now taken the difficult decision not to return to the ITF circuit.

“After everything I’ve had, the shoulder and hip injuries, I’m now looking to the next stage of life,” said 26-year-old Whybourn, who has seven ITF doubles titles to her name.

“It got to a situation where every time I got injured I’d have to get a job and then when I’d be trying to play tennis again I hadn’t trained properly because I’d been working. So I’d start to get niggling injuries again and the cycle would continue.

“Injuries are never nice but they’re part and parcel of every sport. Unfortunately I was never able to fully allow myself to heal in the quickest time frame because every time I got injured I’d have to go back to work where I’d be on my feet all day. It would take me longer to recover. That was frustrating.

“If money was no problem I’d probably continue. But when you know you have to play tournaments because that’s the only way you’ll make any money it becomes a very stressful life. I’m not getting any younger, and I’ve been living that way for eight years now and I’m fed up with it.”

Whybourn’s focus now switches to coaching, an area she has already started working in thanks to her involvement with the Tennis Foundation.

Having recently acquired her first coaching qualification, Whybourn, currently ranked 704 in the world, will initially coach at clubs and schools around Bath where she is still involved with the Team Bath Tennis Academy.

“I’ll definitely miss playing,” she continued.

“I really enjoyed the competitive side of playing tournaments and travelling but the other side of things put a big downer on it.

“I get a lot of coaching, I really enjoy it. It’s early days still so I’m not sure where it will take me. I’ve always wanted to move back home so hopefully it will take me back to that area.

“I’d like to get into performance coaching eventually and hopefully pass on some of my knowledge to other people.”

Whybourn showed plenty of promise during her career, securing her first points in 2009 and then exceeding expectations by reaching the final round of Wimbledon qualifying in 2010.

She reached a career high of 250 but the undoubted highlight was appearing in the first round of the ladies’ doubles at Wimbledon with fellow Briton Nicola Slater in 2013.

The pair took on French duo Alize Cornet and Pauline Parmentier, losing in three sets. Three weeks later Whybourn had her first shoulder operation.

“Playing at Wimbledon was definitely the highlight of my career and I’m glad I was able to get that opportunity,” she said.

“It had been a goal to play at Wimbledon ever since I was a child. To tick that off was really important.”

With the start of this year’s Wimbledon just around the corner, Whybourn said it is traditionally a time for many British players to get excited.

But as she knows only too well, the reality of life on the tour for players ranked outside the top 150 is a long way from the thrills of SW19.

“At this time of year with the tennis on grass you think ‘I wish I was there’. But that’s not the reality of the ITF tour.

“It’s not the way it works, and you have to keep things in perspective. These four weeks of the year are great but the rest of the time is a big struggle.”

Injuries meant Whybourn was rarely able to put a strong run together, though she showed signs of returning to her best last year after coming back from two years out following further surgery on her shoulder.

Her determination to return to competitive tennis summed up her character as she dug deep to keep her career going.

“I don’t have any regrets,” she said.

“Not many people my age can say they’ve travelled as much as I have. During my career I’ve learnt a lot about life general and picked up skills I can hopefully use in future.

“I’d never say to anyone not to do it (pursue a professional career) but you really have to be prepared that it really is not an easy ride. Unless you’re 100 per cent focused and concentrated on doing it, it’s not possible to succeed. You have to really want it.

“I never wanted to say I quit. There’s a difference between retiring and quitting. You retire when you’re older and can’t do it anymore, you quit when you don’t want to do it anymore.

“The situation was out of my control. I wanted to be the best player I could be but under the circumstances I wasn’t able to do that. I didn’t want to keep playing tennis just to be ranked 400 in the world.”